Several days of heavy rains caused severe flooding throughout the region the week of March 6-12. At press time many people in and around Clarksdale were still waiting for the water to drop. The Clarksdale Press Register provided the following update.
CLARKSDALE – As citizens try to recover from the flood, relief efforts around town are under way to help those who need it most.
As of Monday afternoon, Coahoma County EMA Johnny Tarzi said around 200 to 250 homes have been destroyed and he said he wouldn’t be surprised if there were more. The water still has to drop before any real damage assessments can be made, he said.

Flood waters have nearly reached the sign on the Clarksdale Municipal School District central office on Friars Point Road. Several nearby residents have evacuated their homes, which are inundated, and other residents who live in the area known as “the circle” can only get in and out of the neighborhood by boat. (Photo and text repinted with permission from Nathan Duff of the Clarksdale Press Register.)

“The river, I’m hoping it’s going to crest today and get out of here Thursday and Friday,” Tarzi said. “We have to do damage assessments, whenever the water drops out of here.”
Tarzi said he sends daily report to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). After officials can do real damage assessment, the county may be eligible for federal disaster funds through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the second time in less than four months.
Tarzi told the Board of Mayor and Commissioners Monday afternoon that he was optimistic Coahoma County would be eligible for both individual and public assistance, the latter of which reimburses the city and/or county for money spent on cleanup and rescue efforts.
The Red Cross has opened a shelter at the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium at 506 E. Second St. and on Monday morning, Fire Chief Obert Douglas said about 16 people stayed there Sunday night, but that number fluctuates as some people are coming and going and staying with family members. Almost every local hotel has displaced citizens, but the Red Cross doesn’t have funds to help people pay for rooms or to provide temporary housing such as trailers, which is why getting MEMA and FEMA help is important.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson is trying to garner support from the governor, said Trey Baker with Thompson’s office.
“The congressman has been in touch with multiple officials in Clarksdale and Coahoma County, and he is fully abreast of everything that is going on,” Baker said.
Baker said that Thompson would support the area being declared a federal disaster area, but that the request for that has to come from Gov. Phil Bryant’s office. Baker indicated that Thompson’s office has reached out to Bryant, but has not received word of an official request as of Monday afternoon.

Ruskey said the water rose just 4 inches Sunday night, but he didn’t know exactly how high the Sunflower River got because the transmitter that powers the USGS river gauge behind City Hall was flooded and stopped working. He said a lot of the water is runoff from flooded fields and he said the tributaries are getting so much water that the Yazoo Pass has started to flow backward into Moon Lake.
Confederate Street and the surrounding area behind Greenbough Nursing Home was one of the first areas to flood last Thursday. Most of the East Park subdivision outside the town of Lyon is under water after a couple of the levees around that area gave way on Friday. Aerial photos of the area show water approaching the roofs of at least two dozen homes.
Lyon Mayor Woody Sawyer said they’ve encouraged citizens, especially older folks, to give him, public works director Larry Cook or any town alderman a call if they need anything, including water or groceries. He said the roads that are impassible, even those blocked with barricades, can make for a treacherous trip.
“We’ll do anything we can to or lend any of our equipment to anyone who needs it,” he added.
Catholic Charities has been monitoring the situation, keeping in touch with Clarksdale pastor Father Scott Thomas and other community leaders. Those in need of assistance should notify their pastor, who will coordinate response through the Catholic Charities Disaster Response office.

By Maureen Smith
JACKSON – A crowd of more than a hundred gathered in the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. to hear Bishop Fernand Cheri, auxiliary bishop of New Orleans speak about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and about Black History Month.
The program, sponsored by the Office of Black Catholic Ministry, also featured the choir from Jackson Sister Thea Bowman School. The children filled the cathedral with their songs and praise.
Bishop Cheri urged people to take to heart Paul’s call to unity in the Letter to the Corinthians.

John Alford, director of music for Sister Thea Bowman School, leads the children in song at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Black History Month program.

“Christian homes should be havens of peace and comfort,” said Bishop Cheri. The peace and unity we seek is not our own, he explained, it is God’s peace.
His own formula for promoting that peace and unity has four steps. It starts with a personal inventory. “Do you have the help of Christ? When we have trouble we need help from Christ.” he said.
Secondly, Christians should consider the pastoral incentives, meaning that unity will make all our work more powerful. “Unity doesn’t mean simply the absence of conflict, and it doesn’t mean uniformity. It doesn’t mean everyone acts the same, thinks the same, looks the same, walks the same, sing the same songs, pray the same prayers, clap the same, shout the same, etc… It means

Bishop Fernand Cheri, auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans, speaks in the cathedral. (Photo by Maureen Smith)

working peacefully together in the bond of love for the glory of Christ!” he said.
The third step is to follow the practical instructions found in scriptures about unity and ministry, using them to purify their motives and practice meekness.
Finally, Bishop Cheri reminded the audience they have a powerful model for this behavior in Christ. “There is no greater example of meekness and selfless ambition than Jesus. He is our example. He is our pattern. These verses tell of Jesus humbling himself on our behalf, becoming a man, becoming a servant, going to the cross. Who was he thinking of when he did this. I love the little song that says, ‘When He was on the cross you were on his mind.’”

Karla Luke, from the Office of Catholic Education, introduces Bishop Cheri.

Karla Luke, coordinator of operations for the Office of Catholic Schools, introduced Bishop Cheri. She is from New Orleans and her family has known him for many years. “I love the down-to-earth manner Bishop Cheri uses when he delivers his message,” said Luke. “I went home with a firm desire to work harder at fulfilling my baptismal duties to evangelize,” she added.

By Bill Graham
City Editor, The Meridian Star
When Frank Cosgrove came to Mississippi more than 50 years ago, he saw some things he didn’t like.
The 24-year-old arrived in 1965, in the middle of the civil rights movement.
“It was a rude awakening, because I didn’t really know anything about it,” he recalls. “But I learned soon, because I experienced it a few times, and that really taught me a lot. For example, I got refused service in a restaurant because I had a group of black and white teenagers with me.”

Father Frank Cosgrove retired at the end of January after 11 years as pastor of Meridian St. Patrick and St. Joseph parishes. He resides at St. Catherine’s Village in Madison. (Photo courtesy of The Meridian Star)

Experiences like that led Father Cosgrove to seek more inclusion in his life’s work as a priest, which is one of the reasons he is the 2016 Meridian Star Citizen of The Year.
He was born in the County of Leitrim in Ireland on Oct. 7, 1940. He was the oldest of three children and was educated at Summerhill College in Sligo, Ireland and St. Patrick Seminary in Carlow, Ireland.
He chose to come to Mississippi for several reasons.
“The Catholic population in Mississippi was small — only about three percent,” he recalled. “I wanted to come to a place where I was needed. Ireland had plenty priests at the time. And I guess I liked the adventure. It was sort of like being a missionary.”
Father Cosgrove was ordained a priest by the Diocese of Jackson on June 12, 1965, and was first assigned to St. Mary Basilica in Natchez. He then moved to Oxford where he became pastor at St. John Parish and was appointed the Catholic minister to the University of Mississippi.
At one time, he was in charge of youth program for the entire diocese, which covered all of Mississippi at the time.
After he left Oxford, he spent 11 years as the pastor at St. Francis Parish in Madison. In 2005, he came to Meridian to serve the Catholic Community, which includes St. Joseph and St. Patrick parishes, along with the Naval Air Station Meridian and Good Shepherd Mission in Quitman. Father Cosgrove retired at the end of January after 11 years here.
He remembers getting a warm welcome when he came to Meridian.
“My first Sunday at St. Joseph’s, one parishioner told me ‘Father, you’re in the right place,’” and the folks at St. Patrick’s were equally as welcoming.”

“Transfers are not easy for us guys,” Father Cosgrove says of the process by which priests are appointed. “But they welcomed me so well. I fit in really quickly.”
In Meridian, as in the other places he lived, he worked hard to take his faith beyond the church walls.
“I’ve always done that, no matter where I was,” he said. “In all my other appointments, I was the same way. I like to be involved in the larger community.”
That meant he once spent four days on an aircraft carrier with sailors from NAS Meridian.
“That was a good experience, but once was enough,” he said with a chuckle.
He also worked with Habitat for Humanity and other service organizations in improving the community.
He also saw enrollment grow at St. Patrick Catholic School during his tenure. The school expanded by opening a new building last May, and plans to welcome its first class of eighth graders this fall.
“I love the Christian values and high academic standards at St. Patrick,” he said. “And of course, it’s open to people of all faiths and races.”
In retirement, Father Cosgrove has settled in at St. Catherine’s Village in Madison.
“I’ve been mainly unpacking,” he said. “And getting furniture, which is something I’ve never had to do before because the church always provided us with a furnished home.”
He plans to work “as needed,” filling in for other priests when they need a break.
“Already I’m booked a couple of Sundays,” he said. “But the difference is, it’s up to me now.”
And although he lives in Madison, he plans to visit Meridian when he can.
“I miss Meridian a lot,” Father Cosgrove said. “I miss the relationships with the parishioners and the community — deep relationships on a spiritual level.”
“We’re there for very special occasions in peoples’ lives, births, baptisms, weddings and funerals. God’s grace really works through us there.”
Looking back at more than a half century of ministry, he hopes his work has been fruitful.
“Certainly, race relations have improved,” he said. “But we still have a long way to go. There’s still a lot of underlying racism, I’m afraid. But I’m pleased with the progress we made.”

Msgr. Michael Flannery receives farewell cards from St. Anthony School students after celebrating Mass at the school. He retired in January and is working for the Tribunal, helping with annulments. (Photo by Dave Vowell)

“The goal is always to bring people to Jesus Christ, and to bring Christ to people. So that’s what my goal has been. I guess I’ve done it in different ways, whether it was with teenagers, college students, or with older people. But whatever goals I accomplished, it was through God’s grace. And I’m not just being pious about that, I really feel it.”
“By the grace of God, I am what I am,” Father Cosgrove noted. “That’s the only way I can do anything.”
(Reprinted with kind permission from The Meridian Star)

The Diocese of Jackson has esablished ten pilgrimage sites in addition to the Holy Door at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in honor of the Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis. These sites allow the faithful to make a pilgrimage and fully immerse themselves in the contemplation of mercy.
The pope declared certain days to be jubilee days for specific groups of people – catechists, those who work in prison ministry, youth, etc. A full schedule is posted on the diocesan website, www.jacksondiocese.org. In addition, parishes are adding their own observances of the year to their calendars.
In Booneville, Carol Dickerson created a pilgrimage site map, tracing the path between the sites with little feet and including photos of each church a pilgrim should visit in each town. She included information on the jubilee and on pilgrimages in general.
In Vicksburg, St. Paul Parish is celebrating the feast of St. Paul with a pilgrimage day packed with opportunities for liturgy, prayer and fellowship.
A schedule of a couple of events follows.
CLEVELAND Our Lady of Victories Parish will have weekly small-group discussions for six weeks after the mission (Jan. 17-19) in parishioners’ homes. The focus will be “The Holy Year of Mercy” as declared by Pope Francis.
JACKSON St. Richard Parish, Benediction, every Wednesday during the Year of Mercy from 6 – 6:30 p.m. and confession from 6:30 – 7:30 in the church.
VICKSBURG St. Mary Parish has Mass at  6:30 a.m. and a Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help at 6 p.m. The church will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for pilgrims to visit.
St. Michael Catholic Church has Mass at 8:30 a.m. The church will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for  pilgrims.
St. Paul Catholic Church will have Mass at 7:00 a.m.; Eucharistic Adoration at 7:30 a.m.;
8:00 a.m.    Rosary: Joyful Mysteries
9:00 a.m. Rosary: Sorrowful Mysteries
10:00 a.m. Rosary: Glorious Mysteries
11:00 a.m. Rosary: Luminous Mysteries
11:00 am to noon confession
11:30 am Benediction                Noon Mass
12:30 pm    Eucharistic Adoration
1:00 pm    Rosary: Joyful Mysteries
2:00 pm Rosary: Sorrowful Mysteries
3:00 pm Divine Mercy Chaplet and the 3 o’clock prayers
4:00 pm Rosary: Glorious Mysteries
4:30 to 5:30 pm  confession
5:00 pm Rosary: Luminous Mysteries
5:30 pm    Benediction
7:00 pm    Peter & Paul Film in Farrell Hall
For additional information contact:   601.636.0140  or 601.831.0978.
If your parish or faith community is hosting a Jubilee Year of Mercy event or program, please let us know about it by emailing editor@mississippicatholic.com)

Debra West has several hundred ‘children,’ and she loves when they call on her. West is the director of the Catholic Charities Uncaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) Program for Catholic Charities Jackson. Every table and window ledge in her office is covered in framed photos – graduations, weddings, new babies – reminders of the hundreds of lives she has touched. She has been at her post for 13 years, but the program has been in place in the diocese since 1980.
“They still call me, years after they have left,” she said. Once a participant turns 21 he or she is ‘emancipated,’ but West said she and her staff are always available to help. “We get calls 10, 15 years later, mostly people looking for their documents,” said West, but she likes to hear where they are and what they are doing.
An unaccompanied refugee minor (URM) is a child who enters the United States prior to their 18th birthday without a parent or guardian to care for them. Children who arrive with parents or other relatives may also become eligible for URM program services if their caregivers can no longer take care of them once in the United States.
The program assists the young people in developing appropriate skills to enter adulthood and to achieve economic and social self-sufficiency.
The primary focus of the program has always been to work toward reuniting these children with relatives whenever possible. The program was developed in the 1980’s by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to initially address the needs of thousands of children in Southeast Asia without a parent or guardian to care for them.
Since 1980, Catholic Charities of Jackson, has provided specialized foster care to refugee children from Vietnam, Sudan, Somalia, Liberia, Haiti, Burma, Eritrea and the Republic of the Congo. These children were separated from their parents due to the outbreak of war or political upheaval in their countries. Their earliest childhood memories are of death, destruction, separation and survival. They witnessed the burning of their homes and villages and the massacre of their families and friends.
Some children had to flee without knowing who among their families had died or survived. At an age when most children were learning their ABC’s, they were running for their lives.
The children endured hunger, thirst, military assaults, and animal attacks to reach refugee camps. They learned to survive on their own and as a group. Refugee camps were able to provide the children with food, shelter, and relative safety to ease their physical suffering but could do little to heal their nightmarish memories or fears over the fate of their loved ones.
Catholic Charities also serves asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking.
Depending on their needs, the children are placed in therapeutic foster homes, group care, or independent living. “We have two group homes which can accommodate eight young men each,” said West. The foster parents in the group homes and individual homes get specialized training to help meet the needs of the young people, some of whom have been through traumatic situations before they arrive.
The URM program also offers assistance in obtaining U.S. residency, court documentation for immigration issues, translation services, English as a second language help, cultural orientation including grooming and hygiene instruction, case management, therapeutic services, tutors, socialization and recreational outlets.
Case workers and foster parents help the youth celebrate cultural holidays from their homelands and offer them the chance to learn about American holidays and culture. The success stories abound. West said 90 percent of the so-called Lost Boys of Sudan who came to Jackson, boys who fled the civil war in the African Republic to avoid becoming child soldiers, are now U.S. Citizens. Two of them even became therapeutic foster parents for the program when they completed it. West said most of them have also attainted master’s degrees. One received a prestigious scholarship from Rotary International to study diplomacy abroad. Another is in Texas working with FEMA.
One of the most dramatic success stories is that of Bul Mabil, a Lost Boy who was one of only 50 people worldwide to be selected for a Rotary Peace Fellowship to pursue a master’s of Conflict, Security and Development at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. He was five when he and his brother were forced to flee their home without their parents. He told his story to Mississippi Catholic in 2014 before he left for his studies.
“This is a chance to make a difference globally, not just locally,” he said. “This program is to train young leaders who can be catalysts for peace and conflict resolution nationally and internationally,” he added.
There is no doubt his own history with the URM program played into his decision to take on the fellowship. “The value of this program is that they are able to help children have an opportunity here in the U.S. Wherever they come from – there was a reason they came. They did not just decide to go,” he said. “None of us (the Lost Boys) wanted to leave the country where we were born. We had to leave because of war,” he said.
“Refugee issues have become big issues nowadays. The situations affecting these people are not well understood. I would like to highlight them,” Mabil said. “It is different coming from a war-torn country. These things (his success) did not come easily. It took struggle and I would not have overcome the struggles without a program like URM,” he said.
When a URM turns 21, Catholic Charities has a celebration for them. This year, two people left the program, both are continuing their education. West is a proud mom, she takes pride in the graduates and her staff. “We do outstanding work. All of our monitoring visits indicate that. The USCCB sees us as a premiere program,” she said.
West said she would like to open another group home for girls and always welcomes people who want to become therapeutic foster parents. To learn more about the foster parent program call Michael Holloway at 601-981-4668 ext. 702.

By Maureen Smith
JONEST0WN – How can you save a town in the Mississippi Delta steeped in poverty, facing problems with drugs, lack of education and a lack of access to resources? “One child at a time,” said Sister Teresa Shields, a Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, outgoing director of the Jonestown Family Center for Education and Wellness.
Sister Teresa has done her part in that effort, but her time in the Magnolia state is coming to an end. She is looking back on 30 years in the Mississippi Delta as she prepares to retire back to her home state of Washington and her board searches for her replacement. She said she has been talking to her board of directors about retiring for a while, but had to set a date to make the plan a reality.

Shields

She came in 1984 to teach in Clarksdale at Immaculate Conception. When that school closed, she taught in Mound Bayou for a few years. When St. Gabriel School closed, “I still didn’t want to leave so I asked if I could stay and tutor. The (religious) community agreed if I could raise my own salary. So I wrote a grant to Our Sunday Visitor and got $10,000. I thought, that’s easy, to get money. So I did a little needs assessment and started an after school program,” said Sister Teresa.
A preschool followed along with programs to help educate and empower mothers. Helping teenagers transition into womanhood and manhood were the next programs added.  Sister Kay Burton continues to work with teens and mothers in the community. Sister Deanna Randall, BVM, who had Montessori training came and helped the preschool embrace that program. In 1994, Sister Teresa led the charge to raise money to build a building for the Montessori program.
Tina Crawford works in the toddler program and drives a bus for the center. “This place means a lot. When I first came, most of the talk in town was about the sisters. They brought so much to the community,” said Crawford. She said the Montessori school offers children a chance to get ahead of their peers. “They are learning on a third and fourth grade level. They are doing actual math in there and actual science,” she explained. “The work is hands-on and the kids can work at their own pace,” she added.
Parent and teacher Lakisha Egans put two of her children through the school. “This program is very valuable,” Egans said. “It opens up another whole door for kids. They need that in a small town. Education is a big issue here in the Delta,” she said. Egans credits some of the success with parent involvement. “The parents are more involved because of how close this community is,” said Egans, adding that the compassion Sister Teresa and her community offer draw people to the center.
Young children are not the only ones served by the center. In 2005, the Jonestown Family Center got a grant for health and wellness and added a fitness center, located in a former nightclub. Director Lady Jackson welcomes all comers with a smile and plenty of encouragement.

A grant helped secure a bus the Jonestown Center can use to pick up the children who attend the Montessori and preschool programs. (Photos by Maureen Smith)

Jackson said Sr. Teresa had a good reason to branch into fitness. “She had the vision of fitness center so we can educate not only the mind of the child, but the wellness of the body – getting people to eat right and exercise and take care of their bodies,” said Jackson. The fitness director inspires people with her own story of her journey to good health. “I found out my cholesterol was up and I’m not good at taking medication. That day I came home and I moved my furniture out of the way and I started working out,” said Jackson. She will support anyone who wants to turn their lives around.
She does not use one set program, instead letting people pick the type of exercise they want to try and encouraging them to try several before they settle on what works. “I don’t push what I do on other people, I let it be your choice. You want to walk. I let you walk. You want to ride the bike, you ride the bike. I just want you to do something.” Jackson said she knows of children in her church who suffer from diabetes and obesity and wants to offer an alternative. “Your body is a temple of God. You keep it healthy – you work on keeping it holy,” she said.
Not all of Jackson’s work is related to exercise. She also offers teenagers and young people a safe place to gather.

Grants and donations provided equipment for the Fitness Center, one of the newer programs in Jonestown.

“I love it. Sometimes people come here – they don’t come to work out, they have a lot of stuff on their mind. They want to talk,” she explained. “A lot of young men come down here to workout and stay out of trouble. The teenagers come and I help them. We talk about their goals, their future in life- where they want to be – what plans have they set in place to get to where they are going,” said Jackson. She encourages the young people to set both long and short term goals and then works with them on achieving the smaller milestones on the way to their ultimate dreams.
During the summers, she runs a program for kids that includes trips to nearby towns and team sports activities. Jackson said one of Sister Teresa’s gifts is being able to find just the right person for each ministry of the Jonestown center. Jackson started in the preschool program, and tried to retire, but Sr. Teresa kept bringing her back until she found the perfect fit in the fitness center.
Both Eagans and Crawford said Sister Teresa’s compassion sets her apart. Crawford said she is always willing to talk to anyone who needs her. Both hope compassion will be a hallmark of the new director for the center.
In 2012 a man from Jonestown broke into Sister Teresa’s home and stabbed and robbed her. “When I was hurt, everyone said they thought that was the end of the community center, but I did come back. I told the board, now is not the time, but maybe in a few years,” explained Sister Teresa. When she returned home after recovering from the attack she hosted a healing ritual in her home, sealing the four corners with oil and hanging up the hundreds of cards and letters she had received while she was away. She knew she wanted to continue the work of the Jonestown center, but also knew it was time to start urging the board to think about succession planning.

Maxine Kinnard, Montessori teacher, helps Josiah L. get settled while Edith R. watches. Some of the children in the program are second generation attendees.

Sister Teresa said she would like to see the Jonestown Family Center offer even more to the community. “We need a clinic. We need a bank. We need social services. We need a counselor, we need addiction counseling, so there are many needs,” said Sister Teresa.
Many of the children in the Montessori and Mothers as teachers programs now are the second generation to attend. Sister Teresa leaves knowing that the legacy of education and service has already made a positive impact on this community. “I think there are a lot more people that see another way of life is possible.”
The board hopes to have a new director in place in April or May. The Jonestown Family Center relies on donations  to maintain its programs. To learn more about how to help, visit online at www.jonestownfamilycenter.com.

One of the most visual differences in Mass in the Extraordinary Form is that the priest celebrates with his back to the people. (Photo by Gene Buglewicz)

By Gene Buglewicz
OXFORD – Father Scott Thomas celebrated Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Oxford in November. The Mass wasn’t “extraordinary” as we usually define it, but the Mass was the Extraordinary Form, commonly known as the Latin Mass.
The Latin Mass as many Catholics know it came from Pope Pius V, who mandated a single form of the Mass at the Council of Trent (1545 – 1563).   The Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965) instituted a new, simplified liturgy that also substituted Latin for common language as well as restored a few elements which had been lost over time. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI announced that the Extraordinary Form of the Mass could be practiced by individual parishes without permission, in part to better connect Catholics to the historical traditions of the church.
What are the differences a modern Catholic would see in the Mass in the Extraordinary form? As a bell rings, the priest enters the sacristy from the side of the altar and stands with his back to the congregation. The priest prays the Mass in Latin with English spoken only during the homily when the priest faces the congregation and addresses them.
Communion is taken at a communion rail which separates the altar from the congregation or at a kneeling bench in front of the priest. Rather than receiving the sacred Host in the hand, which is common today, the Host is taken directly on the tongue.
Worshiping at the Extraordinary Form of the Mass was offered as a special event for the University of Mississippi Catholic Campus Ministry students at St. John the Evangelist.  Approximately 40 students made up the 125 parishioners and visitors who attended the Latin Mass.
Father Thomas, pastor of Clarksdale St. Elizabeth Parish, travels throughout the Diocese of Jackson celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Mass for parishes who request it.

By Elsa Baughman
JACKSON – The first celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Diocese of Jackson was held on Dec. 16, 1979, in the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. Every year many of the parishes and missions hold in her honor mañanitas, a sunrise service on Dec. 11, Masses, processions and skits about her apparition. In some communities the faithful pray a novena of rosaries at different homes or in the church leading up to the feast day.
Saturday, Dec. 12, marks the 484th anniversary of her apparition to the Indian San Juan Diego in Tepeyac, Mexico.
In 1754 Pope Benedict XIV declared for Dec. 12 a special Mass and Office proper to the celebration on her feast day. In 1945, Pope Pius XII designated Our Lady of Guadalupe the Empress of the Americas noting that she had been painted “by brushes that were not of this world.” The following year he declared her to be the Patroness of the Americas. In 1988 the liturgical celebration on Dec. 12 was raised to the status of a feast in all dioceses in the United States.
For Mexicans living in the Jackson diocese the celebration has special meaning.
Herminia Martínez, a member of Hazlehurst St. Martin of Tours Mission, says that the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a very special day in her native country, Mexico. “On Dec. 11 people decorate the front door of their houses with lights of different colors and with images of the Virgin of Guadalupe,” she said. Around 11 p.m. people gather in churches to sing songs and to pray the rosary, a tradition known as mañanitas.

Members of the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle process with the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe around the Smith Park every year praying the rosary before the 2 p.m. Mass.

Martínez remembers fondly the year she participated in the “Guadalupan torch run” when she was a teenager, walking and running with a group of friends from her home in San José Chiapas Puebla to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City, a journey that took all day and night. There, youth groups from different parts of the country lit their torches and then brought them, burning, to their local churches.
“You feel something special when you are running with that torch in your hands,” she said. “It’s a great joy to participate in this relay race.”
Martínez added that she has also participated in that event here in the United States when the “Guadalupan Torch Relay Race” has passed through Hazlehurst on its way to New York. “We received the lighted torch, we remember the tradition and we think about the message the runners bring.”
The International Guadalupan Torch Relay Race is sponsored each year by the Tepeyac Association of New York. The race begins in October at Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica in Mexico City, progresses through several states in the United States and ends on Dec. 12 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
For the feast this year, Martínez is preparing the children of the parish to present a Guadalupan dance on Friday, Dec. 11, during the 6:30 p.m. Mass in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe. “We will bring her flowers, we will sing and dance in her honor,” she said.
For Martínez, Dec. 11-12 are also special days of remembrance in a different way. Eleven years ago her father was dying on Dec. 11 but it seemed like something was holding him in this world. On that day, she prayed to the Virgin of Guadalupe that if her father was afraid of dying, to help him go in peace. “And he died that same day,” she said.
Growing up in the small town of Allende, in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, Blanca Cantu would pray the rosary to the virgin with her parents and siblings at different homes. “We prayed 46 rosaries, one daily for each star in the Virgin’s blue mantle, ending on Dec. 12 before the Mass on her feast day,” Cantu said.

BELMONT – On Thanksgiving Day, Sandra Hernández with the help of her family, erected an altar for the Virgin of Guadalupe in the front lawn of her house. She posted this photo in Facebook with the cutline, “My little Virgin of Guadalupe is ready to be celebrated on her feast day.”

On Dec. 12, she added, the people would gather at 5 a.m. at the entrance of the town to walk for two hours toward their church, praying the rosary led by their pastor and singing songs. The Mass was celebrated at 7 a.m. followed by dances and a meal. “This is one of my most cherished childhood memories,” Cantu said.
As a member of Batesville St. Mary, Cantu is one of the organizers of the celebration in her parish, a tradition that began in 2009. She said that before the 7 a.m. Mass the congregation participates in a short procession from the parish center to the church. The adults and the children, many dressed as St. Juan Diego and others wearing Mexican dresses, bring flowers to the Virgin at the beginning of the celebration. This year the Mass will be on Saturday, Dec. 12.
This past Thanksgiving Day, Sandra Hernández and her family prepared an altar for the Virgin in the front lawn of their home in Belmont.
Her devotion for the Virgin of Guadalupe comes from her father who used to pray daily for her intersession. Hernandez’s father had a small statue of the Virgin and a crucifix on his night stand. “I was very young but I remember  him praying everyday, in the morning or at night, calling the Virgin ‘My Lupita,’” she said. Lupita is a nickname for Guadalupe. Hernández said her father named the last of his seven daughters, Guadalupe.
“My mother taught me to pray the rosary, she has a big devotion for Mary. But my father passed on his faith and love for the Virgin of Guadalupe to me,” she explained.
She remembers that in her native town of Cuitlahuac, Veracruz, the community assembled close to midnight on Dec. 11 to pray the rosary and sing mañanitas. “I went with my family to this celebration which was always very well attended and afterwards we shared a meal,” she said. On the 12th we gathered again for Mass.
Gerardo Hernández of Jackson grew up in a small town in the state of Juanajuato in Mexico. During the months of November and December he took part in the “Hermandadez (Brotherhood) activities in Rincón de Alonso, his town, for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“We processed from one town to another taking a statue of the Virgin on a pedestal to the small chapel in each community,” he said. Sometimes the group walked for two hours or more praying the rosary and singing songs written for the Virgin. The statue stayed in each town for several days and then it was taken to the next town until Dec. 12 when it arrived at the main church in the district.
As a member of the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle’s Hispanic ministry, Hernandez participates in the procession around Smith Park while praying the rosary and singing songs led by a group carrying a statue of the Virgin. This year the celebration is set for Sunday, Dec. 13, beginning at 1 p.m. with the procession. Bishop Joseph Kopacz will be the main celebrant.